Product placement in media and advertising

Product Placement

Hawaii Five-0- Solving crimes with Microsoft phones

The CBS crime drama Hawaii Five-0 is a re-configured version of the old 1960s crime drama set in exotic Hawaii. In its newest incarnation, the special task force crime fighters use contemporary methods to track crime, including smartphones. Every episode begins with a new crime, which is then resolved by the end of the hour. Microsoft has negotiated a special product placement deal with the series, so the phones that are used by Lieutenant Steve McGarrett, Detective Danny 'Danno' Williams and Chin Ho Kelly are inevitably Microsoft-branded. Most recently, the Lumia 920 phone has given particular prominence as has the Microsoft Surface, Microsoft's tablet rival to the iPad. It is the Microsoft Surface that is particularly eye-catching in its usage, given that this tablet-style device is so photogenic in its ability to display crime information on the screen.

A typical episode features the Surface as a critical component of up-to -- the minute information searching such as when a police officer uses it to look up information on a car based on its license plate number. Also during the episode (as well as other episodes) it was not unusual to hear characters say 'Bing it' rather than 'Google it' when searching for information online about a piece of forensic evidence (Wilcox 2011). To the ears of most listeners, this phrase is jarring, given that the name of the Microsoft search engine has not entered into the realm of common cultural vocabulary like Google's much more famous search engine. However, all of the technological products in the episodes are uniformly Microsoft-branded.

Analysis: Typical audience, favorable, product risk, marketing objectives, and deliberate placement

It is easy to see why Microsoft chose the youth-marketed Hawaii Five-0 as a venue for product placement. Microsoft has long been portrayed in the media as the less 'sexy' computer company, versus Apple. The popular 'Mac vs. PC' advertisements deliberately portrayed Macintosh as a sleek, attractively-dressed young man, versus the nerdy, virus-prone PC guy. They were "the bumbling PC and the hip, unflappable Mac -- an odd couple who would entertain viewers for years with their quips, barbs, sight gags, and one-liners" (Nudd 2011). However, in the context of Hawaii Five-0, Microsoft products have a critical role in fighting crime. This makes them seem attractive, because they are being used by good-looking actors who are saving the world from peril. (In contrast to the risks endured by the characters there is little 'risk' for Microsoft being shown as a force for good, rather than evil in the world). The main criticism of the placement by some TV critics was that it felt rather forced and they questioned the reality of a world only populated by Microsoft products, no others.

Most effective and least effective aspects of this placement? Impact on brand perception: success, failure, and suggested changes

The most effective aspect of this product placement is that it makes Microsoft products appear reliable, because police officers are using the Microsoft-branded line while on critical life-and-death missions. When a woman's photos were uploaded to a Microsoft SkyDrive, the process looks fluid and easy, creating an image of a product that can be relied upon at a moment's notice. "Microsoft's online storage service...using a Windows Phone handset to snap and send them. The scene immediately cuts back to 5-0 headquarters where the photos are viewed on a Surface Computer and the young woman in them is identified. This is much more than product placement. It's product engagement" (Wilcox 2011). Quite literally, without Microsoft, the episode would have taken a very different turn of affairs and the viewer subconsciously thinks 'I could benefit from using this.'